Sailor hat brimstitcher



Jan. 9, 1968 K. M. NycKoLs, JR

SAILOR HAT BRIMSTITCHER 3 heets-Sheet 1 Filed April 25, 1966 IIVVENTOI? ATTORNEY KENTO/V M. MUG/(0L5 1968 K. M. NUCKOLS, JR 3,362,362

SAILOR HAT BRIMSTITCHER Filed April 25, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 //v ve/vro/v KENTOIV NUCKOLQJR.

Jan. 9, 1968 M- N K L R 3,362,362

SAILOR HAT BRIMSTITCHER Filed April 25, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 //v VEA/ 70/? KEN 7'0/V M. NUC/(O L s, m,

A TTORIVE'Y United States Patent 3,362,362 SAILOR HAT BRIMSTITCHER Kenton Malicote Nnckols, Jr., Richmond, Va., assignor to M & B Headwear Co., Inc., Richmond, Va., a corporation of Virginia Filed Apr. 25, 1966, Ser. No. 544,791 4 Claims. (Cl. 112-2) This invention relates to sewing machines, especially sewing machines to stitch the brim of sailor hats, or other workpiece requiring helical stitching, and more especially to an attachment for an ordinary sewing machine to adapt it to perform helical stitching on a workpiece.

The known machines for helical stitching of such items as cups of brassieres, hats, or the like, are complicated and expensive. Such machines are made as special use machines rather than machines of general utility.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a mechanism that will automatically perform the helical stitching, requiring only that an attendant remove the finished workpiece, reload and restart the device.

It is a further object to provide such a mechanism that may be inexpensively made, and that may be readily added to any sewing machine, so that it is not necessary to purchase an expensive complete machine to perform the helical stitching operation.

Other and further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following specification taken with the accompanying drawing in which like reference characters refer to similar parts in the several views and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of the device mounted on a sewing machine that is shown broken away;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the device;

FIGURE 3 is an end elevation from the left of the device; and

FIGURE 4 is an end elevation from the right of the device.

An ordinary sewing machine having a portion 1 at the end of an arm extending over the sewing surface 2, carries a presser foot mounted on a vertical bar 3, and a reciprocating needle bar 4 carrying a needle 5.

Below the sewing surface 2 are the usual mechanisms including the feeding teeth or feed dog that causes the material being stitched to be moved past the reciprocatin-g needle.

To practice the present invention, a special presser foot 6 is provided and it is secured by a block 7 to the vertical bar 3. Block 7 carries a pivot 8. The remainder of the presser foot 6 is pivotally mounted on pivot 8 so that it can tilt slightly as required to ride over unevennesses of the workpiece, which is held against the feed dog by the presser foot 6.

The presser foot 6 carries a front idle roller 9 that merely rides over the material to hold it close to the sewing surface 2 as it approaches the needle 5. A rear roller 10 (FIG. 3) is mounted behind the needle, and may conveniently be provided with a roughened or knurled surface to assure its being rotated by the workpiece passing between it and the sewing surface 2. Knurled roller 10 drives a flexible shaft 11 by means of gears 12 and 13. Shaft 11 could be a solid shaft with a universal joint or the like device. Some flexibility of this shaft connection is desirable as it is necessary to raise and lower the presser foot 6 to load and unload the machine.

Flexible'shaft 11 extends to the right, as seen in FIG- URE 2, to drive a shaft 14 mounted in a frame 15 secured to the sewing surface. Frame 15 may include two vertical elements 16 and 17 by which shaft 14 is rotatably supported.

A shaft 18 is also journalled in elements 16 and 17 and its end 18a, extending toward the presser foot 6, carries a coarse screw thread. Shaft 18 is rotated by shaft 14 through gears 19, 20 and 21. The number of gears depends on the hand of the threads, and the relative diameters of the gears depend on the required speed of rotation of shaft 18 to provide the desired pitch of the stitching.

A switch 22 is mounted also on the elements 16 and 17, to be operated to be turned off by a finger 23 as will be explained below.

An edge guide 24 is provided between the presser foot 6, and the frame 15. This edge guide comprises a block, or blocks 25 carried by a plate 26 that is appropriately cut out so a portion thereof can pass to the left of presser foot 6 and the blocks 25 can be moved close to the needle so that, as the hat brim, or other workpiece, is first inserted into the machine, it will be held flat in the neighborhood of the presser foot and needle with the edge of the workpiece against the blocks 25. The edge guide 25, 26 is provided with an upstanding block 27 having an aperture through it, through which the threads of element 18a extends. A spring pressed plunger 28 carries an element 29 to normally engage the threads of element 1811 but, when the plunger 28 is pulled out, the edge guide may be moved along the threaded element 18a at will. Block 27 also carries a support or guide arm 30 to hold the opposite side of the workpiece as it revolves during the stitching process.

When the device is to be put to use the plunger 28 is pulled out and the edge guide 25, 26 is moved to the left in FIGURES 1 and 2. The workpiece, a sailor hat brim, for instance, is placed under the presser foot 6, which has been raised, under plate 26, and against block 25. The presser foot is lowered and the switch 22 is thrown to the left to start the sewing process. The operator may then serve several similar machines.

As the machine sews, the workpiece is fed under rollers 9 and 10. The axes of these rollers may be turned slightly so that as they roll on the workpiece, they bias the workpiece toward the right to keep it in contact with the edge guide block 25. The rotation of roller 10 causes the shaft 11 to rotate because of gears 12 and 13. Shaft 11 rotates shaft 14 to drive the shaft 18 by means of gears 19, 20, 21 so that the edge guide 25, 26, 27 is moved to the right (in FIGURES 1 and 2) so, as the needle stitches around the workpiece, the edge guide is moved gradually away from the needle. As the needle stitches around, and around the workpiece, the line of stitching will therefore be moved to form a helical pattern. When the workpiece is completely stitched the guide 25, 26, 27 is far to the right of its starting position and finger 23, carried by block 27, pushes the lever of switch 22 to the stop or off position so that the sewing machine mechanism is stopped.

An operator, having several of these machines to operate, needs only to raise the presser foot 6, remove the completed workpiece, move the edge guide 25 to the sta position by retracting plunger 28 and moving the edge guide to the left, insert a new workpiece, lower the presser foot 6 and flick switch 22 to the on position. The operator is then free to attend to other similar machines, returning to this machine after it has again completed the operation on the new workpiece and has turned off the sewing machine.

It will be understood by those skilled in the sewing machine art that other specific mechanical movements, switches, and gears could be substituted for the specific elements shown. The scope of theclaims therefore is not to be considered as being limited to the specific illustrated exemplification, but as including analogous elements within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a sewing machine of the type having a presser foot for holding a workpiece against a sewing surface and in engagement with a feed dog, the novelty comprising a roller mounted on said presser foot to be rotated by passage of a workpiece between said presser foot and said sewing surface during sewing, an edge guide slidable on said sewing surface in a direction normal to the direction of sewing, a mechanical means mounted on said sewing machine remote from said presser foot operatively engaged with said edge guide to move said edge guide pr0 gressively from a position adjacent said presser foot to a position remote from said presser foot, and shaft means operatively connecting said roller mounted on said presser foot to said mechanical means, whereby said mechanical means is driven by said roller.

2. The device of claim 1, in which said mechanical means includes a rotatable screw threaded element and said edge guide carries manually retractible means to normally cooperatively engage said rotatable screw threaded means to produce movement of said edge guide upon rotation of said screw threaded element whereby said edge guide may be rapidly returned to its position adjacent said presser foot from its position remote from said presser foot.

3. The device of claim 1, in which said presser foot, said shaft means, said edge guide, and said mechanical means are assembled as an article of manufacture whereby the assemblage may be mounted on a sewing machine as a unit to convert it without structural modification into a spiral brim stitching sewing machine.

4. The device of claim 1, in which said shaft means is flexible whereby said presser foot may be raised and lowered freely as required in use of the device.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,290,123 7/ 1942 Wilfong. 2,389,388 11/ 1945 SChlOSs. 2,406,623 8/1946 Myers. 2,716,952; 9/1955 Pasquini et al. 3,010,414 11/1961 Della Rossa. 3,013,513 12/1961 Judelson 112203 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

JAMES R. BOLER, Examiner. 

1. IN A SEWING MACHINE OF THE TYPE HAVING A PRESSURE FOOT FOR HOLDING A WORKPIECE AGAINST A SEWING SURFACE AND IN ENGAGEMENT WITH A FEED DOG, THE NOVELTY COMPRISING AA ROLLER MOUNTED ON SAID PRESSURE FOOT TO BE ROTATED BY PASSAGE OF A WORKPIECE BETWEEN SAID PRESSURE FOOT AND SAID SEWING SURFACE DURING SEWING, AN EDGE GUIDE SLIDABLE ON SAID SEWING SURFACE IN A DIRECTION NORMAL TO THE DIRECTION OF SEWING, A MECHANICAL MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID SEWING MACHINE REMOTE FROM SAID PRESSURE FOOT OPERATIVELY ENGAGED WITH SAID EDGE GUIDE TO MOVE SAID EDGE GUIDE PROGRESSIVELY FROM A POSITION ADJACENT SAID PRESSER FOOT TO A POSITION REMOTE FROM SAID PRESSER FOOT, AND SHAFT MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTING SAID ROLLER MOUNTED ON SAID PRESSER FOOT TO SAID MECHANICAL MEANS, WHEREBY SAID MECHANICAL MEANS IS DRIVEN BY SAID ROLLER. 